The Oranje left Euro 2012 at the group stage, failing to register a single point, and this development prompted the exit of then-trainer Bert Van Marwijk.

Van Gaal was appointed shortly after, and this decision has brought almost immediate results, with the Netherlands currently on a five-match unbeaten run.

The former Bayern Munich coach conceded that he hopes for a repeat of the Oranje's resurrection after their disappointing Euro 1996 campaign, and admitted that he is using exactly the same methods Hiddink did at the time to achieve a turn in fortunes.

"After Euro 2012 everyone could read, see and hear that relations between some players were strained," said the 61-year-old trainer in an interview with De Voetbaltrainer.

"I used old footage as an introduction for my first meeting with the team. I chose an episode of 'Andere Tijden Sport' [a Dutch programme] about what went wrong at Euro 1996 and what Guus Hiddink did to make the World Cup 1998 such a success two years later.

"New rules and agreements about how to treat each other were very important back then.

"It was nice that Patrick Kluivert [now Netherlands' assistant coach] featured in that episode and he was in the room for the meeting," he added.